Flashing
light seen in the skyBY
Don Newlands
Special to The Trentonian

Is
a UFO keeping tabs on southern Ontario?

A
strange object appearing in the night sky has been reported
by observers from Ottawa to Rochester NY. - including Trenton
- and along the north shore of Lake Ontario.

The
object, which appeared in the south west sky, about 20 degrees
above the horizon, was first reported by Don Henderson in
Cobourg at around 10:30 p.m. August 9.

According
to Henderson, the object remained visible for three hours.

Henderson
said the object appeared to be stationary and was flashing
red, yellow, green, blue and white.

Henderson,
a one-time field engineer with Ontario Hydro, said he had
never sen anything like it.

"I
wanted others to confirm what I was seeing...I hesitate
to call it a UFO," said Henderson.

Through
an amateur radio link-up, Henderson was able to confirm
his observations with other amateurs in the area.

A
radio operator camping on a lake near Ottawa reported sighting
the object and watching the strange flashing colors.

The
object was also observed by tower staff on duty at the CFB
Trenton.

They
also reported that a similar object had been observed 180-degrees
to the North East.

Some
observers, among them amateur astronomers, suggested that
the object may have been a star and the flashing colors
were caused by heat deflection and a layer of smog.

Terrence
Dickinson, a leading authority and columnist on astronomy
in Canada, has suggested that the pulsating colors were
caused by the intersection of the Jet Stream into the observer's
line of sight, thus creating a prismatic color change.

Dickinson
thought the effect was created by the starlight from Antares,
the brightest star situated in the constellation Scorpio.

He
also noted that the stars on the night of August 9 were
vigorously twinkling, which he said generally indicates
a turbulent jet stream is present.

Others
reported that several of these objects had been observed
earlier in the week.